Steve Madden

Steve Madden

History and Background

Steve Madden’s entry into the shoe business began in 1974, when he was in his late teens. This was the time when Elton John and David Bowie was a hit. The platform shoe was very popular at the time, and was what got Steve Madden interested in designing shoes in the first place. Madden began to design shoes directed towards the teenage market. After a decade in design, Madden was successful enough to have negotiated a deal in 1988 with M.C.S. Footwear, where he designed, developed, and marketed a shoe line for women. The company put his name on the shoes he had designed, and gave him 10% of the profits (Steve Madden.com/history).

In the early 90’s, Steve Madden decided that he wanted to work on his own, he rented a small office in Long Island, New York with one employee by his side. Madden launched his own company, naming it after himself. He took out a line of credit to pay for the cost of manufacturing 500 pairs of shoes. Once the shoes were ready, Steve Madden was left with $1,000 in his pocket. He took his first design which were clogs, and took them to stores himself in New York City and also sold some shoes from outside his trunk. Madden’s first best seller from all his designs were his patent leather Mary Jane’s, these were the shoes that helped expand his company rapidly. He designed a steady amount of appealing new styles; initially using the style of the platform heel which was at a peak in the early 90’s. Five years after the start of his business, Steve Madden Ltd. was regularly cited in the business media about capturing the brand loyalty of the teen consumer (SteveMadden.com/history).

In the summer of 1993 Steve Madden, Ltd. had moved its offices to Manhattan’s SoHo area, where he opened his first brick and mortar retail store. The Steve Madden Company only had 13 employees working at that time. The footwear that was being manufactured in Brazil, Mexico, and New York City, were boots, clogs, and sandals. This...